Bluegrass Budokai 2013

I suppose I am no different than many in that the beginning of a new year gives me reason to pause and consider much. As the director of Bluegrass Budokai I am in a position which can prove to help others, both youth and adults, to improve themselves in various areas. I am guilty of not setting organizational goals for us in due to the somewhat convoluted mindset of attempting to "live in the moment".  That is a personal flaw in that I am aware of.  With that said here are some of my thoughts as we live in the moment today, with an eye towards tomorrow.

Youth Classes - Our youth classes has seen a increase in membership for December like no other before it which is quite promising.  Alongside that we have unfortunately lost a few of our advanced kids in December for various reasons.  Those reasons are simply boredom, injury, apathy and the lure of other things that steal their attention away (particularly video games).  Most of us can agree that a balanced existence is important, especially for our kids.  However, it is my hope that we can continue to instill in our youth classes a few important things:

• Hard and challenging work (whether physical or mental) pays off dividends later in life.  
• Exercise, particularly that which makes you sweat, get hot, and breath hard is a good thing.
• Use the belt testing as a method for kids to see goals before them, and assist them in reaching goals.
• Continue to use the dojo before and after class as an opportunity for kids to socially interact face-to-face, rather than through electronic means.
• A new focus in our youth classes to help the older and more advanced members to develop leadership skills they can use at home, school, church, and community.  

Aikido classes - we saw a huge experience drain occur when we lost some key members in the last few months.  Doug Combs was out most of the fall with injury, Spence Dillehay left for Japan, and Tracy Trimble and myself have been dealing with back issues.  Other than Spence, December saw all of us back on the mat and getting those kinks hopefully worked out .  I would like to see a renewed emphasis on two fronts in Aikido, to get these guys who have trained with Moore Sensei regularly up front in classes more often, and particularly a renewed effort in our regular classes.  Upon reflection, we put a lot of energy into our weapons this past year, to help bring that skill set up.  I would like to see us do the same in 2013 for our regular unarmed classes.  Due to so many injuries, I would also direct us to have a renewed emphasis on everyone's ukemi skill set, with consideration to age of our membership.  Quite frankly, we have been training extremely hard, perhaps too hard, for years now. We must allow that our bodies are getting older and seek out assistance from Moore Sensei especially in helping us know how to continue to train effectively while at the same time keeping our selves healthy.  Moore Sensei has already confirmed he will be coming to Kentucky again this year in the summer.  We look forward to his visit as usual.  

Judo Classes - Our grapplers are part of a growing grappling community in our region that are dedicated to cross training with others like us, and with other teachers.  This is a trend that I want to increase our efforts towards in the new year.  I am disappointed that we missed some opportunities to train with other like-minded folks in 2012 due to travel and scheduling difficulties.  Since that appears to be a possible issue for the future as well, we will be dedicating much effort to getting other instructors to come our way.  With that said, there are not too many facilities around that have as many yudansha (black belts) as us .Between Donnie Gibbs, Garry Snow, and myself we have nearly 60 years of judo experience right there, and each of us is similar, yet unique in our approach.  Jeff Crouch is now back in to classes as well, and he brings the experience of being uchi deshi for 3 years to our group too.  This all bodes well for our students/members.  Not to mention 2013 will be black belt testing for two of our students.  This always serves to heighten everyone's skill set as we prep these guys for that grueling test.

Defensive Tactics - DT started as a series of seminars over 3 years ago, and now includes regular on-going classes 2 days per week.  Our goals for 2013 include the development of a program of skills testing, so that we too can set some goals and achieve them.  Our friends, both seen and unseen, who have spent careers in the military and law-enforcement community are an integral part of this process.  We want a program of no-frills, effective methods to help the average, ordinary person to be able to adequately defend themselves, at home, school, work, or in the community.  

If you are reading this and have not been to the dojo in a while, then join us.  We are dedicating our efforts to help improve the physical, mental, and spiritual lives of our members one moment at a time.